Self-testing seal



Feb. 19, 1929.

C. W. MOORE SELF TESTING SEAL Filed NOV. 29, 1924 Lia INVENTOR AT'roRNEY YPatented Feb-i9, 1929.

U-NITEDfKsTATl-:Sf PATENT OFFICE# f enanas w. noon, or NEW'YoRx, N. Y.

@LI-TESTINGA'SEAL Applicatioanlea rinvenireA 29,v 1924. serial No; 752,922. L This invention pertains to ran limproved for substantially an indefinite period of time. sealing means employed toprevent the passage of a liquid or a gas beyond a designated-y pointer points, such as at pipe joints. In 5 particular tliefinventiony ormsa compound or complete seal and is so constructed that in the eventr of a break in the seal there will be an immediate indication of such lbreak thereby making it possible to haverepairs made before material damage has been done.4 l

My improved sealing means may be employed withany apparatus in which it is de1 sired to prevent the passage of water or a gas beyond a particular point and the constructional elements of the seal. maybe modified to meet any desired usef vOne of the parti-cular uses where my` improved seal has operated with ymaterial success is insealing a toilet bowl to a drain pipe. vThe seal is so constructed that it will prevent the passagerol water and of any` gasesfthatmay be in the drain pipe. In this particular use I have so constructed the seal that there willbe an indication should the seal becomebroken 'for any reason. Such a selftesting seal or self indicating seal eflicientlyzmeet the re' uire-V ments of boards or health and ofhealt of-Y ticers.

My improved andnovel seal will beherein lset forth and described as it is em. loyed to seal` a toilet bowl to a drain pipe. t is to be p e understood however that thevseal ma be sattrating a modified v form of one of the eleisfactorily employed for variousot eruses IH'GIIS 0f the Seal.' i and such other uses are considered to be with- Fig. 3 is' a top plan View Vof a 'flange elein the scope of this invention when the sealing resultsV are substantially the same when using .some or all of theelements hereinyset forth.V x.

Themain object of myinvention is torprovideV a novel self testingor self indicating seal for joining together twopa'rts kof apparatus so that a liquid orf gas passing therethrough will not escape at the joint, and.. in case a leak develops vthat there will an inimediate indication thereof. p

It is also an object of the inventionto provide such a novel and elicient sea'l-tofprevent the passage of a liquidA or gas' therethrough and to so form the seal as to .have more` than one form of sealing means operating tol obstruct leakage of`v the vliquid or gas, one of said seals beingV a liquid seal.

Itis a Afurther object of the invention t providefan improved seal that is simple inoperation, that is manufactured at low costs, and that will maintain rits sealing properties ing seal lthat is suiciently flexible to compenqualities, a selfadjusting seal.

It is a'further and important object of this inventionl to provide vthisnovell sealin suc form that there will always'be a material quantity` of liquid in the li uid seal sothat upon aV break developing in t 1e other component parts of the seal therewill vbe a suilicient quantityof .the liquidto automatically passito the exterior ofthe seal to give proper indication o f the'l'eak thereby eliminating the lpossibility oi'` gas length of time. f

A particular object offmy invention is to furnish an improved' and eflicient self testing and compensating seal .especially adapted to Other objects and advantages of thehinvention will become apparent when the detailed description set forth below isread.

ings wherein: F1' l 1s a .vertical sectional view illustrating t e elements of my improved seal.

resilient material in theform 'of washer. Y

Fig.` 4 is a. sectional Viewv ta-ken on the-,lines y Fig. 5 is alpartial'elevational view of the Harige elementl of the .seal illustrating two overliowmeansyan'd .'Fig'. 6 is a partial vertical sectional view my improved seal.' i

to these drawings and es'- Referring now opening in alignment withthe `first'. conduit 1 is shown as being positioned slightly spaced apart from conduit l thus forminganopening 4. VThis conduit in this particular use a toilet bowl. p

f Mv improved means fory joining these two conduits together in a manner to prevent y. The. preierred.l embodiment of' my invention 1s villustrate-sd inthe accompanying draw- Y of afmodified form ofthe fiange elementgof of my improved seal constitutes the base of Another object of my 'inventionis to pro-V vide such a novel self testing or self indicatsatey for vvarious pressures land movements Y thus making yin addition to vits seli"4 testing y leakingffor any.; material i seal a toilet bowl to adr'ain pipe. v i

" Fig. 2 is a view similarto Fig. 1 andillu'sf ment of the sealhaving mounted therein 'a pecially to Figs. lf and Q a drain pipe vor con-v i duit 1 is shown as passingthrough suitable fioor boards 2. A second conduit 3 having 'its' noA leakage of the liquid or water and of any gases in the conduit at the joint, is shown in the most approved forms in these Figs. 1 and 2.

It has been found from experience that the most simple manner of obtaining a satisfactory seal at a minimum cost is to provide a suitable flange element or member 5 which rests on the floor boards 2 as illustrated in Fig. l and is affixed to the drain pipe or conduit 1 in any satisfactory manner. The flange 5 may be made of any suitable mal Vrial such as cast iron or pressed steel. In this instance the inode of affixing the flange to the drain pipe is obtained by forming a tapered portion (i on the inner surface of the flange and filling the space formed by this tapered portion and the drain pipe with solder'. The flange is constructed to receive a suitable iin-` pregnated flexible material. 7 such as a piece of felt strip or member which is preferably formed to lay within a portion of the flange. This resilient-,material receives projection 8 in the form of a ring usually formed integral with the conduit 3 and thereby providing one member for assisting in sealing the joint ef the two conduits against leakage of the liquid or gas passing through the conduits.

One of the main features of my improved seal is t0 provide such a seal construction as will indicate immediately when there is a break in the sealing means thus preventing non-observable leakage of dangerous gases. It will be noted from the preferred use of my improved seal as shown in the drawings that the liquid passing through the conduits does not normally flow against the seal. llVith such construction it is desirable to provide a sealthat will permit immediate indication of a breaking down of the seal. The accomplishment of this result may be provided in many different ways but I have herein shown one form of seal which has been very success fully employed. The preferred seal for suc`r cessfully accomplishing this self testing or self indicating construction is herein illustrated and will now be described in detail.

The flange 5 is constructed to have an inner rim 9 and an outer rim 10. These rims are so shaped that they form between them a channel 11, (Fig. 4) for receiving the resilient material 7. These rims are constructed of such height as to extend above the resilient material. It is desired however that the outer rim 10 shall be provided with suitable overflow outlets which are positioned below the height of the inner rim thus permitting any liquid which passes through'opening 4L to pass to the exterior of the flange when the seal is broken and in such instance this liquid will flow out onto the floor boards 2 thereby indicating that the seal has been broken. When this indication is noted repairs may be made immediately so that no material damage will result from the breaking of the seal and so that no materialamount of dangerous gases will escape. The overflow outlet indicating idea'may be accomplished in several different ways all of vwhich have proven successful by experience. In Fig.` 1, I have reduced the height of the outer rim 10 so that `it is less than the height of the inner rim 9, thus any liquid or waterwhichwould pass to the outer rim by reason of the breaking ofthe seal would automatically flow to the exteriorof the flangeand from there out onto the floor boards thereby making the seal a'self testing or self indicating seal. From the constructionaljjioint of View theforegoing arrangement of having the outer rim lower than the inner rim, isrfound to advantageously permit the production ofa flange at minimum cest. j

The modified constructions of the flange which provide suitable overflowoutlets are illustrated in F igs 2 and 5. In Fig. 2 the outer rim 10is of equal height with the Vinner rim 9 and is provided with'snitable overflow outlets in the form of holes 12 whichare at a position of less height from the vbase of the flange than the top of the inner rim 9. In

Fig. 5I have provided the top of the outer rim 10 with a wavey construction so that the depressions 13 of this construction are of less height than the top of the inner rim.y A nother form of overflow outlet is shown by slots 14 having the base of the slots positioned lower 'than the top of the inner rim.` It is to be understood that either or both of these overflow outlet constructions may be cmployed in a single flange. f

A proper and satisfactory complete sea i which willlast substantially for the life ofthe connection between two conduits may be formed inseveral different ways, but I have found that by impregnating the resilient material or felt strip 7 with a suitable nonevaporable grease that a satisfactory tight seal of long life is produced.

In the formation of the seal illustrated in Figs. 1 and QI have provided the second conduit 3 or the foot of the toilet bowl with a flanffe portion 15 having a downwardlyl eX- tenc ing portion 16 which covers over the seal but which when the conduits are in properlposition does not engage the floor boards 2, and in this construction the projection ring 8 is formedwithin the Harige portion 15. The width of the projection 8 is preferably made less than the width of the felt strip? so that as the projection 8 passes into its normal position'it will press into the felt causing cer'- tain portions of they felt to bulge up around the edges of the ring or projection 8l reason of the felt- Vbeinga resilient material the bowl `will automatically adjust itself in position. It will be noted that the base of projection 8, when in normal 'position7 will be positioned below the tops of the rims 9 and 10 and below the over-flow outlets.l

lVhen placing t-he bowl in' position and by 'reason of the weight of the bowl or by forcimpregnated resilient Vmaterial and with the liquid or water 19 which passes through open'- ing 4 there will be formed a complete or conipoun'd annular and radial seal against the Vleakage of the liquid passing through the conduits. It is desirable to obtain as much effectiveness ofthe grease` seals as possible and I have therefore constructed a groove 20 inthe outer rim so that the width of the outer grease seal 18 is materially increased.l It is to be understood that any other desirable means for obtaining this end may bel employed as long as the full effect of the eX- truded grease to act as a seal is obtained.

Referring now to Fig. 3, it will be noted that the flange 5 is provided with ears Q2, 23 and 24, and 25 which are adapted to aflix the flange to the floor boards 2 and to fasten the conduit or bowl 3 in a firm relation to the conduit 1, this may be accomplishedby placing suitable screws kdown through the flange portion 15 and into suitable openings inthe ears of the flange 5 and thus the ring projection 8 may be forced down into the felt strip 7 to any desired extent thus obtaining sufficiently large grease seals. It will also be noted in referring to Fig. 3 that the grooves 20 which permit a larger outer grease seal to be formed that these grooves extend betweenv any two of the ears. It will be understood that if desired the groove may be complete throughout the circumference of the flange. It will be noted from Figs. 1 `to 4 inclusive that the flange 5 is constructed in a very simple form, and for other purposes this flange may be constructed with a skirt 26 (see Fig. 6) which is adapted to extend through" the floor boards 2 and to receive conduit 1 thereoii'by means of screw thread engagement.

It will be seen from the foregoing description that I have provideda satisfactory complete or compound seal which is self testing or self indicating thereby meeting the ie- .y

quirenients of boards of health and special requirements of health officers. It is known thaty self testing seals are'not required in `all States but the advantages of this type of seal are very material from escaping and for preventing material rate and distinct grease seal.

members, a flange to prevent dangerous gases damage to property. yIt will also be seen that with my improved seal there are four sepawith a suitable overflowoutlet providing a complete self testing or self indicating seal that is of material advantage in maintaining health and in maintaining the proper condi-v tion of property. Also the simplicity of construction of this improved new lseal permits fora larger number ofpersons to be properly yprotected from the health standpoint.

`Itwill be understood that while I'have herein described in detail a particular em'- bodiment of my invention for purposes of yfull disclosures, Aand some detailed features which I am specifically vclaiming for a special advantage, many changes and modifications may be made in the particular construction and arrangement of parts without departing fromthe broad scope of my invention which is outlined'in the sub-joined claim. What I claim is :-y

Ay pipe connection comprising opposing fastened to one ofsaid members,pand a sealing means; said-flange having an inner rim tapered yon'the inside seal elements which go to. Vmake up the complete seal and which operate thereof to provide space between it and said member for a suitable fastening means, said flange having an outer rim spaced apart from said inner rim thereby forming a channel between said rims for receiving said sealing f means, said outer yrim being substantially vertical and ending at a height below the top of said` inner rim, thereby to lpermit water normally held against said inner rim to flow to the outside of said outer rim when the sealing means within lsaid channel becomes broken, said `outer rim being provided at intervals with integral ears ywhich are .of relatively short widths and of relatively small thicknesses, said ears extending outwardly from saidY o uter rim` and adapted rto receive bowl attaching means, kthe height of the top surfaces of said ears being level with or higher than the top of saidinner rim and being of smal-l thickness thereby providing space below said ears for the ends ofthe fastenin 'means j Y This specification signedthis 26th day of November, 1924.

CHARLES Mooaii.` l 

